Poularde Talleyrand

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy covered casserole sized closely to the poularde
• •Food processor with metal blade
• •Digital kitchen scale
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Poultry shears
• •Sharp boning or utility knife
• •Small heavy saucepan
• •Oval ovenproof serving dish, about 14 inches (35 cm)
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Warm sauceboat

Instructions

1. 1

   Stage the cold work

   Chill the food processor bowl and blade for twenty minutes. Keep the mousseline chicken, egg white, and cream cold until the moment they are processed. Butter one side of the parchment generously and refrigerate it flat. Have the half-glaze, macaroni, scale, shears, and serving dish ready before the poularde is cooked; reconstruction moves smoothly only when every component has somewhere to go.

2. 2

   Poêle the poularde

   Cook the whole poularde using Poëlings (No. 250), scaled to this bird. Poêling is covered butter-roasting, and the linked preparation supplies its own fat, aromatic bed, basting, and finishing procedure. Cook until the thickest part of the thigh reaches 165°F (74°C) without the thermometer touching bone. Rest the bird breast-side up for fifteen minutes, keeping all cooking juices supplied by the linked preparation with it.

3. 3

   Make the mousseline

   Put the cold raw chicken, salt, and half the white pepper into the chilled processor. Pulse until the meat forms a smooth, sticky paste, add the egg white, then process just until absorbed. With the machine running, pour in the chilled cream in a thin, steady stream and stop as soon as the mousseline looks smooth and softly glossy. If it turns oily or grainy, stop immediately. Set the bowl over ice and chill it for ten minutes; if it still will not smooth with two short pulses, process the optional egg white in a clean chilled bowl and add the broken mousseline back one spoonful at a time. Ça se rattrape. Poach a teaspoonful in barely simmering water until its centre reaches 165°F (74°C), taste it, and correct the seasoning. Refrigerate the mousseline.

4. 4

   Build the cream sauce

   Melt the butter in a small saucepan, stir in the flour, and cook this roux gently for two minutes without letting it colour. Whisk in the milk a little at a time, followed by the cream, and simmer for four to five minutes until the sauce is thick enough to hold a clear trail from the whisk. Remove it from the heat and stir in the Parmesan, nutmeg, and remaining white pepper. If the sauce is lumpy, pass it through a fine sieve; if it tightens into a paste, loosen it with one spoonful of cream. It must bind the macaroni, not drown it.

5. 5

   Measure the filling

   Set the rested poularde breast-side up in its ovenproof serving dish. Run a sharp knife along both sides of the breastbone and lift away the two cooked suprêmes. With kitchen shears, remove the exposed breastbone and rib bones while leaving the back, legs, wings, and outer skin intact. Check carefully for bone fragments. Cut the suprêmes into large dice and weigh them. Cook and drain enough macaroni to give exactly the same cooked weight as the suprêmes, then fold the two together with just enough Parmesan cream sauce to coat and bind them. Let the mixture cool to lukewarm before adding the foie gras. Use all the diced foie gras and enough diced truffle to make their combined weight exactly half the weight of the suprêmes; fold them in gently so the foie gras keeps its shape. Reserve the sliced truffle for the crown and sauce.

6. 6

   Reconstruct the breast

   Spoon the filling into the opened breast cavity and mound it into the poularde's natural rounded shape without compressing it. Cover every exposed part of the filling with a layer of cold mousseline about ½ inch (1.25 cm) thick, smoothing the seams against the surrounding skin so no filling can escape. Arrange half the reserved truffle slices in a crown over the mousseline. Lay the parchment directly on top, buttered side down, and press it lightly against the surface.

7. 7

   Poach the new breast

   Bake the reconstructed poularde at 325°F (165°C) for twenty-five to forty minutes, until the mousseline is set, tender, and 165°F (74°C) at its thickest point, and the filling beneath is thoroughly hot. Keep the buttered paper in place throughout; this is a gentle poach inside the oven, not a browning step. If the outer poultry begins to darken before the centre is ready, leave the paper undisturbed and tent the whole dish loosely with foil. Remove the parchment only after the dish leaves the oven.

8. 8

   Finish the truffle sauce

   While the poularde finishes, warm the half-glaze sauce gently with the truffle juice and the remaining truffle slices. Hold it at the barest simmer for two minutes so the truffle perfumes the sauce without losing itself. If the sauce is thin, reduce it before adding the truffle; if it becomes too tight, loosen it with a spoonful of water. Spoon a little sauce around the poularde and lightly over the legs, leaving the ivory mousseline and its truffle crown visible. Send the remaining sauce separately in a warm sauceboat. Carve through the mousseline and filling with a broad serving spoon. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Use firm cooked foie gras, often sold as mi-cuit, rather than raw foie gras. Raw liver will surrender too much fat during the second heating and leave greasy hollows where handsome dice should be.
• •Fresh black truffle is magnificent when the season offers it. At other times, a good whole preserved black truffle packed in its own juice is the classical pantry's honest answer; use that juice in the sauce and leave truffle-flavoured oil on the shelf.
• •The scale is not optional decoration. The cooked macaroni equals the diced suprêmes by weight, while the foie gras and diced truffle together equal half that weight. C'est la même grammaire: proportion gives the rich filling its balance.
• •Serve with a restrained vegetable, such as buttered spinach or glazed carrots, and a full dry white Burgundy. The poularde already contains macaroni, cream, foie gras, and truffle; it needs companionship, not competition.
• •Leftovers keep for two days under refrigeration. Reheat slices covered at 300°F (150°C) with a spoonful of sauce, stopping as soon as the centre is hot so the mousseline remains tender.

Advance Preparation

• •The veal half-glaze may be prepared or purchased several days ahead and kept refrigerated, or frozen in a measured portion. Warm it only when the reconstructed poularde enters the oven.
• •The Parmesan cream sauce can be made one day ahead. Press parchment against its surface, chill it, and reheat gently with a spoonful of cream before binding the macaroni.
• •The mousseline may be made up to six hours ahead and held in the cold. Keep it below 40°F (4°C), then perform the small poaching test before spreading it over the filling.
• •For the best texture, poêle, dismantle, reconstruct, and bake the poularde on the day it is served. The separate sauce and cold components are the sensible make-ahead work; holding the assembled bird overnight makes the macaroni swell and the outer meat less forgiving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 690g)